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Different direct/indirect managerial and contractual links throughout the supply chain have been researched to improve project performance. These links are undoubtedly influencing payment and cash flow mechanisms. As different members of the supply chains are affected differently by the factors influencing cash flow, payment mechanisms have to be designed in such a way that this uneven sensitivity to cash flow factors is addressed and linked to value and utility. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an IT system developed to model different payment mechanisms to enable the supply chain members to decide on the most appropriate payment mechanism.

The adopted methodology to select the appropriate payment mechanism is first illustrated. The mathematical model is then developed. The IT system to automate the developed methodology is then presented. The system considers alternative payment terms and conditions across the supply chain in a transparent and negotiated manner.

The outcome results in designing payment mechanisms and cash flows that satisfy all supply chain members.

The value of this research to the construction industry has been the clear identification of the benefit of applying appropriate and innovative payment mechanisms. This will encourage organisations to engage in these mechanisms and hence improve the effectiveness of how projects are managed and executed.

The purpose of this paper is to address the prerequisites for achieving coordinated action in reverse distribution systems. It is an underlying assumption in distribution, logistics and supply chain management that a higher level of coordination between the actors is superior to a lower, and a higher levels of coordination will in turn lead to increased performance. Coordination requires the actors to implement efficient coordination mechanisms. The separate distribution flows need to be coordinated individually with appropriate coordination mechanisms. Furthermore, actors need to pay close attention to how different coordination mechanisms co‐exist in order to achieve a higher level of coordinated action and superior system performance.

The paper is based on a comparative case study of reverse distribution systems for electrical and electronic products in Norway.

The empirical results indicate that lack of coordination across flows increases costs and reduces the service level, and a low level of coordinated action is achieved. In contrast, it is also found that well functioning coordination mechanisms across flows decrease costs and increase the level of service, indicating that coordinated action is achieved. It is also found that end‐user characteristics are driving forces leading to different types of reverse distribution systems.

The paper builds an important bridge between separate flows in distribution systems, and addresses a void in distribution research.

This paper aims to review the quad-porosity shale system from a production standpoint. Understanding the complex but coupled flow mechanisms in such reservoirs is essential to design appropriate completions and further, optimally produce them. Dual-porosity and dual permeability models are most commonly used to describe a typical shale gas reservoir.

Characterization of such reservoirs with extremely low permeability does not aptly capture the physics and complexities of gas storage and flow through their existing nanopores. This paper reviews the methods and experimental studies used to describe the flow mechanisms of gas through such systems, and critically recommends the direction in which this work could be extended. A quad-porosity shale system is defined not just as porosity in the matrix and fracture, but as a combination of multiple porosity values.

It has been observed from studies conducted that shale gas production modeled with conventional simulator/model is seen to be much lower than actually observed in field data. This paper reviews the various flow mechanisms in shale nanopores by capturing the physics behind the actual process. The contribution of Knudson diffusion and gas slippage, gas desorption and gas diffusion from Kerogen to total production is studied in detail.

The results observed from experimental studies and simulation runs indicate that the above effects should be considered while modeling and making production forecast for such reservoirs.

To study flow‐induced corrosion mechanisms for carbon steel in high velocity flowing seawater and explain corrosive phenomena.

An overall mathematical model for flow‐induced corrosion of carbon steel in high velocity flow seawater was established in rotating disk apparatus using both numerical simulation and test methods. By studying the impact of turbulent flow using the kinetic energy of turbulent approach and the effects of the computational near‐wall hydrodynamic parameters on corrosion rates, corrosion behaviour and mechanism are discussed here. It is applicable to deeply understand the synergistic effect mechanism of flow‐induced corrosion.

It is scientific and reasonable to investigate carbon steel corrosion through correlation of the near‐wall hydrodynamic parameters, which can accurately describe the influence of fluid flow on corrosion. The computational corrosion rates obtained by this model are in agreement with measured corrosion data. It is shown that serious flow‐induced corrosion is caused by the synergistic effect between corrosion electrochemical factor and hydrodynamic factor. While corrosion electrochemical factor plays a dominant role in flow‐induced corrosion.

The corrosion kinetics and mechanism of metals in high velocity flowing medium is discussed in this paper. These results will help someone who is interested in flow‐induced corrosion to understand in depth the type of issue.

This paper aims to study flow‐induced corrosion mechanisms for carbon steel in high‐velocity flowing seawater and to explain corrosive phenomena.

An overall mathematical model for flow‐induced corrosion of carbon steel in high‐velocity flow seawater was established in a rotating disk apparatus using both numerical simulation and test methods. By studying the impact of turbulent flow using the kinetic energy of a turbulent approach and the effects of the computational near‐wall hydrodynamic parameters on corrosion rates, corrosion behavior and mechanism are discussed here. It is applicable in order to understand in depth the synergistic effect mechanism of flow‐induced corrosion.

It was found that it is scientific and reasonable to investigate carbon steel corrosion through correlation of the near‐wall hydrodynamic parameters, which can accurately describe the influence of fluid flow on corrosion. The computational corrosion rates obtained by this model are in good agreement with measured corrosion data. It is shown that serious flow‐induced corrosion is caused by the synergistic effect between the corrosion electrochemical factor and the hydrodynamic factor, while the corrosion electrochemical factor plays a dominant role in flow‐induced corrosion.

The corrosion kinetics and mechanism of metals in a high‐velocity flowing medium is discussed here. These results will help those interested in flow‐induced corrosion to understand in depth the type of issue.

Granular flow lubrication is developed in recent years as a new lubrication method which can be used in extreme environments, while the stick-slip mechanisms of granular flow lubrication are an urgent obstacle remains unsolved in fully establishing the granular flow lubrication theory.

A granular flow lubrication research model is constructed by the discrete element method. Using this numerical model, the mesoscopic and macroscopic responses of stick-slip that influenced by the shear velocity, and the influence of the shear velocity and the normal pressure on the vertical displacement are studied.

Research results show that movement states of granular flow lubrication medium gradually transform from the stick-slip state to the sliding state with increased shear velocity, in which these are closely related to the fluctuations of force chains and friction coefficients between granules. The stick-slip phenomenon comes up at lower shear velocity prior to the appearance of granular lift-off between the two friction pair, which comes up at higher shear velocity. Higher normal pressure restrains the dilatation of the granular flow lubrication medium, which in turn causes a decrease in the displacement.

These findings reveal the stick-slip mechanism of granular flow lubrication and can also offer the helpful reference for the design of the new granular lubrication bearing.

Having read previous literature about vortex pump, we noticed that mechanisms of circulating flow and its relationship with energy transition remain unclear yet. However, this mechanism, which should be clarified, significantly influences the pump’s efficiency. To comply with the aim of investigating it, the 150WX-200-20 type pump is selected as study object in our present work.

Numerical simulation is conducted to formulate interactions between flow rate and geometric parameters of circulating flow with certain types of blade while experiments on inner flow are served as a witness to provide experimental confirmation of numerical results. Based on these, we coupled some parameters with the pump’s external performance to study their internal connections.

It is concluded that separatrix between circulating flow and other turbulent forms is not that clear under low flow rate. With flow increases, hydraulic losses coming of it will be dominant within the front chamber. Besides, we analogized circulating flow to vortices so as to make a quantitative analysis on its progressive evolution with changing flow, and vortices speaking for circulating flow can be divided into two groups. One is called main circulating flow vortex (hereinafter referred to as MCFV), which occurs all the time while subsidiary circulating flow vortices (hereinafter referred to as SCFV) appear in certain conditions. This context discusses the primary phase of our work with intent to follow up further with circulating flow characterized by vortices (hereinafter referred to as CFV). We confirmed that MCFV Vortex 1 (Vor1) directly influences the efficiency while SCFVs only play helping. As the flow goes to the given working condition, fluids in this pump tend to be steady with the size of CFVs getting larger and their shape being regular. Meanwhile, for MCFV Vor2 and Vor4, their geometric parameters are the key factors for efficiency. When CFVs become steady, they absorb other vortices nearby, as they have higher viscosity with the efficiency reaching its maximum.

The research results explore a new way to measure the circulating flow and help work out the causation of this flow pattern, which may be used to improve the vortex pump’s efficiency.

Investigations into ground effect phenomena about aerofoils are typically conducted on either an upright (lift‐producing) or inverted (downforce‐producing) configuration, in isolation. This limited approach does not promote a holistic understanding of how ground effect influences aerofoils. This paper aims to address this issue.

A two‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics investigation was conducted on the highly cambered Tyrrell aerofoil, in both its upright and inverted configurations, in order to better understand ground effect phenomena by observing how it influences each configuration differently. The trends in force and flow field behaviour were observed at various ground clearances through observation of the normal and drag forces and pressure coefficient plots. The aerofoil was held stationary and at a constant angle of attack of 6 degrees, with a moving ground plane to simulate the correct relative motion.

The different ground effect mechanisms that occur on each configuration are highlighted and explained. It is shown how ground effect manifests through these different phenomena and that there are general or overarching mechanisms that influence both configurations. These general mechanisms allow unintuitive phenomena, such as the downward movement of the stagnation point on both configurations, to be explained.

Overarching mechanisms of ground effect are discovered which are of value in any situation in which ground effect aerodynamics is to be exploited.

Ultra low permeability rocks such as shales exhibit complex fracture networks which must be discretely characterized in our reservoir models to evaluate stimulation designs and completion strategies properly. The pressure (Darcy’s law) and composition driven (Fick’s law) flow mechanisms when combined result in composition, pressure and saturationdependent slippage factor. The approach used in this study is to utilize pressure-dependent transmissibility multipliers to incorporate apparent gas-permeability changes resulting from multi-mechanism flows in commercial simulators. This work further expounds on the effectiveness of the theory by presenting a descriptive analysis between two commercially utilized numerical simulators. The applicability of dynamic slippage as an effective flow mechanism governing gas flow mechanisms within the computational environment of two different simulators is attempted in this analysis. Results indicate that slippage-governed flow in modelling shale reservoirs should not be ignored.

The aim of this article is to propose a methodology for the design and operation of a just‐in‐time coordination mechanism to control the flow of materials in the supply chain.

A literature review of the problem is presented and a new supply chain coordination mechanism is then proposed.

The paper reveals that the one aspect not deeply studied yet in the supply chain management is their short‐term control. A simple kanban coordination mechanism demonstrates that is practical in the flow coordination of materials among the different nodes (companies) in a supply chain.

This paper shows recent approaches in the supply chain context, useful to companies looking forward new opportunities in coordination systems for the supply chain.

The paper begins with a review of previous research in the material flow control in the supply chain. The authors then propose a new mechanism and an optimization methodology to deal with the coordination mechanism.